Aplomb

It was early morning and the sun was just rising in the sky. The bus rolled to a stop in front of the Kirch resident. Two boys stepped off the bus and made their way inside their home. Once they were inside and upstairs, they separated without a word to go to their respective rooms.

The boy with the long hair slowly opened the door to his bedroom and practically collapsed on his bed. His eyes slowly closed before snapping open when he heard an ear-piercing scream. He fell off his bed and stared at the girl who most likely screamed.

He stared at the girl with long blond hair and baby blue eyes. Panic struck him as he couldn’t recognize who was lying in his bed. He realized that it could be a fan that snuck into his room.

“WHOEVER YOU ARE I WILL SIGN WHATEVER YOU WANT AFTER I SLEEP!” He yelled. He just wanted to sleep.

“WHO ARE YOU AND WHY WOULD I WANT YOU TO SIGN SOMETHING?” The girl replied, panic obvious in her voice.

“Wait, you don’t know who I am?” The boy asked, confused.

“No, why would I?” She replied, confused as well.

“WHO ARE YOU AND WHY ARE YOU IN MY ROOM AND ON MY BED?” He yelled.

“Patrick John Kirch! Stop screaming.” His mother scolded.

“Mom! There’s a stranger on my bed!” He tried to justify.

“Patrick!” His mother scolded.

“Why is everyone so—who is that?!” Tim joined in as he appeared behind his mother.

“Right! Mom is getting mad at me for not knowing her!” Pat said.

Everybody turned their attention to the girl who looked so small because of the bed sheets that were wrapped around her. She hadn’t said a single word and looked at the three of them with fear in her eyes. Her body was shaking but thankfully, no one noticed because of the bed sheets.

“It’s your cousin, Delilah!” Mrs. Kirch told the two boys who just stayed quiet. “She’s going to be staying with us for awhile. The guest room is being renovated so I told her to stay in your room, Pat.”

“Little Dely, is that you?” Tim asked, completely surprised. “Wow, you’re a late bloomer aren’t you?”

Delilah blushed a deep crimson as she tried to hide her face with the bed sheets. Mrs. Kirch scolded Tim before shooing them out of the room.

“Pat just sleep in Tim’s room tonight.” Mrs. Kirch said. “We’ll fix the sleeping arrangements later.”

“So you and Tim are sharing a room?” Jared asked after Pat shared the story of what had happened yesterday as they all sat in the Kirch’s living room.

“No,” Pat said as he crossed his arms. “Tim kicked me out so I am sleeping on the couch. Once Delilah found out, she offered to sleep on the couch instead but I denied.”

“So, you’re home after being gone for nearly four months and you can’t even sleep in your own bed?” Kennedy asked.

Pat nodded his head in response and everybody started to laugh.

“We feel bad for you. We really do.” Garrett assured his friend as he controlled his breathing. “But that’s just funny.”

“You guys suck.” Pat said before pouting.

“Don’t worry about it, Pat.” Tim said. “Mom says that the guest room will be done by this week. Anyway, where the hell is John?”

Everybody shrugged.

“You can’t blame him for not being here on time.” Jared defended. “We just got back from tour yesterday and now we are having a band meeting. We need a break.”

“Yeah, but the sooner we start this, the sooner I can go back to sleep.” Tim said, letting out a yawn after.

“Why’d you plan this meeting so early then if you wanted to sleep?” Garrett asked.

“It’s 2 PM!” Tim said as he slapped the back of Garrett’s head.

“I slept in until four yesterday.” Garrett said.

“Yeah, well it is nearly impossible to sleep until 9 am on the couch.” Pat said as he pouted.

Pat’s words caused another round of laughter before the front door opened, revealing the lead singer of the band.

“It’s about time!” Tim said as John sat down on the couch.

“What took you so long?” Pat asked the lead singer who was an hour late.

John shrugged in response and patiently waited for Tim to start the meeting.

“Okay, since everyone is finally here.” Tim said before sending a pointed look to John. “We can begin. I know you guys are tired because you just arrived from your international tour so this can either be good or bad news. The label decided not to have a spring tour this year. You’ll have small shows here and there but that’s pretty much it. I think they are also planning to shoot a music video soon but I am not yet sure about the details of that.”

Everybody around him nodded and didn’t say much. As much as they loved touring, there were definitely perks to staying home with their family and friends.

“So you bitches decide to hang out and not invite me?!” Eric Halvorsen exclaimed as he entered the Kirch residence.

“Eric Halvorsen, language!” Mrs. Kirch yelled from the kitchen.

“Sorry, Mrs. Kirch!” Eric yelled back as his face turned crimson. “I love you, Mrs. Kirch!”

“I know you do, Eric!” She replied with a laugh.

As Eric joined the rest of the boys, a softer laugh joined Mrs. Kirch’s hearty one.

“Who’s with your mom?” Garrett asked. “Do you have a sister that you’ve been hiding in the attic for years?”

Tim and Pat stared at Garrett as everyone else just laughed.

“No, we don’t even have an attic.” Pat said.

“It’s our cousin, Delilah.” Tim said. “The one who kicked Pat out of his room.”

“Hello,” a soft voice greeted them. It sounded very shaky and unsure. “I didn’t mean to kick you out of your room, Pat.”

“Everybody this is Delilah.” Tim introduced her to the group.

She stood by the doorway and tried to hide herself as much as she could. She could feel them examining her pink jumper and grey sweatpants. She was sweating buckets but was too shy to wear anything more revealing when there were boys around.

They all waved at her and she returned the favor.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to interrupt.” Delilah said as her face started heating up because of the seven men looking at her. “Your mom sent me out here to ask you boys if you were hungry.”

“Yes!” The boys yelled in unison.

Delilah nodded and turned to pass the message to Aunt Isabelle but she knew it was unnecessary. When Delilah was inside the kitchen, Aunt Isabelle was already on the phone, ordering pizza. Delilah sat down as she waited for her aunt to finish the call.

“Why don’t you hang out with the boys, hun?” She asked Delilah as she hung up.

Delilah turned red as she tried to grasp the thought of hanging out with boys. She hardly hung out with boys in New York. Sure, she had a few male friends but they were all danseurs.

“Come on, Delilah.” Aunt Isabelle urged. “Go to the living room. They won’t bite.”

Delilah nodded as she tied her hair in a messy bun so that it wouldn’t stick to her sweaty neck. She began making her way towards the living room, trying to gain confidence as she did so. She wasn’t trying to impress them or anything but she just wasn’t a very sociable person.

She finally reached the doorway but heard them all laughing. Another blush suddenly formed on her face as she realized that there was no way she could fit in with a bunch of people who were already so close.

“We don’t really know her though.” Tim said.

Delilah felt like they were talking about her. She knew she shouldn’t be eavesdropping but she just needed to know if they were really talking about her.

“Yeah, last time we saw her was five years ago.” Tim continued. “Her family kind of disappeared from everything.”

“But I remember her from when we were kids.” Garrett said, directing his attention to Pat. “Didn’t she always play with us during the summer when we were five or something?”

“Yeah, they stopped coming over when we were seven.” Pat said. “Next time we saw her was when we were thirteen. She was super uptight though.”

“She was a bitch.” Tim said. “I am not denying it. She barely talked to us and seemed to treat us as if we weren’t sophisticated enough for her world of ballet. It was practically all she would talk about.”

Delilah felt a pang as she listened to Tim’s words. She wasn’t a bitch. He just didn’t understand her family and what they were going through. Still are going through. He doesn’t understand how important ballet was to her. What does it matter though? He already had his mind set.

She made a move to walk away to stop from hearing too much but Tim continued to talk and she found it hard to pull herself away.

“Her sister is the opposite of her, though.” Tim said and Pat agreed. “Kate is super outgoing and is just a regular girl. She was a bite obsessive about fame and whatnot but at least she isn’t a pretentious ballerina.”

“Is she the girl from the wacky family portrait you have?” Jared asked.

“Yeah, the small brunette.” Tim said.

“She’s a babe.” Jared said before letting out a whistle.

“Jared.” Tim said pointedly. “Whatever, I would rather have her than Delilah, though. Any day.”

“Me too.” Pat agreed.

Tim’s words stabbed through her heart, and so did Pat’s agreement. Delilah should be used to it. She thought she was. No one ever picked her over her perfect sister, Kate. Her mother made sure she knew that. It still hurt to hear it from someone else though.

Delilah picked herself up from the floor. She was numb and in her own world now. Her bare feet made their way to the front door. She carefully opened it and closed it behind her. She set off to disappear for awhile in the foreign city that is Tempe.

No one followed her out or asked her where she was going. She was able to leave without noticing. She didn’t understand why she doubted it. She used to disappear in New York for days at a time before anyone noticed. Why would Arizona be any different from the hell hole that was her home?